named one of the most 100 powerful arab women last year, appears on u.s. cable news channels quite often and the founder and chairman of the independent think tank beirut institute. safeen, a member of the kurdistan democratic party. he's also a member of the -- was a standing-in member of the iraqi governing council of the authority in 2004. he was exiled to the u.k. and returned to his homeland and is playing a very key role in its development in the kurdistan province. let's make it a conversation, more oprah, fewer speeches, and hopefully everybody gets involved shortly. i want to begin by asking all the panelists to take a bird's eye view first. how you see the flow happening in the region generally, in syria in particular, and where do you see some connections happening. afra, would you like to begin? >> hello, everyone. good morning. i'm replacing my colleague from the syria national council. i was slightly surprised he chose me because he knows i'm in the non-violent movement in syria, and i'm doing my ph.d. on the non-violent movement in syria, an